David Weinberger's Keynote was entitled 'Everything is Miscellaneous'
See the description here and see the presentation here on the LTS site.
The process of storing knowledge has gone through four processes so far –1st order was finding a place for storing what is known, not necessarily in any order, just collecting it. The 2nd order was to categorise knowledge – eg. Put it into order, like a library. The 3rd order was to link knowledge systematically – making connections about what is known – like a tree diagram. The fourth order is where we are now – he called it unknown order, where our knowledge has many connections , many random– like the internet.
We are moving away from the traditional way of learning knowledge – we no longer have to restrict our storage of knowledge as we can store vast quantities of it through technology – think of your digital photo library –probably hundreds of photos which you can keep, yet you can refer to it whenever you need it. However, we do have to be more selective about what knowledge we use.
Compare Wikipaedia and Britannica – You can’t believe everything that is said in Wikipaedia as it is constantly able to be edited – and this is a good thing. By using wikis people are using evaluative skills and critical skills. Wiki warnings about inaccuracies remind us that things may not be accurate. The creator of Wikipaedia has said that things are only neutral when people stop editing them. Britannica is non editive. There are no warnings of inaccuracies in factual accounts.
The traditional expert who will not partake of discussions will be temporarily locked out of Wikipaedia. To be a true expert now takes skill to justify his/her actions.
Whilst using MSN/texts children are engaged – even whilst doing homework, using it to reassure or to ask questions. David Weinberger states – “Learning is social”, (I like that). He also states that testing is individual. – “ Regimes confuse the measurement of that which is being measured”, ( I like that too)
We are entering a time when knowledge is not seen as the ultimate goal –rather, the process. We are aiming for the meaning now, a connection of ideas.
See the description here and see the presentation here on the LTS site.